After claiming his fourth successive Olympic title in Weymouth last summer,
channelling the Incredible Hulk with his memorable "they didn't want to make
me angry" quip, an emotional Ben Ainslie described the win as the finest of
his career. He may just wish to revise that assessment on Thursday morning.

Flag bearer: Sir Ben Ainslie played a key role with the triumphant Oracle team in San FranciscoPhoto: Getty Images

Britain’s most celebrated sailor since Lord Nelson can wake up knowing that he played a key role in one of the most remarkable sporting comebacks, helping to turn what had been, for the most part, an ill-fated 34th America’s Cup into pure sporting gold.

Never before has there been such a long, hard-fought series, in such a spectacular inshore setting as San Francisco Bay, on boats which, while controversial, have broken new ground in innovation and speed.

The drama of the way in which the series unfolded, the majesty of these enormous catamarans up on their foils, and perhaps most importantly, the innovative television coverage, which for the first time was shown to the masses on YouTube, brought a new audience to the America’s Cup. Ainslie (right) played a key role in that success.

In winning the Auld Mug for the first time, albeit as part of an American team, Ainslie also fulfilled a lifetime ambition. The eight-year-old boy who awoke on Christmas morning to find a second-hand Optimist dinghy in his bedroom in Cornwall, which his father had rigged up overnight, has now achieved the twin goals he set himself when he embarked upon a career in sailing: to win Olympic gold and to win the America’s Cup.

He will not stop there, though. Ainslie’s next goal, his ultimate goal, is to bring sport’s oldest international trophy back to the UK, where it originated in 1851, with his own team Ben Ainslie Racing.

Few would bet against him doing so, especially in the wake of this latest triumph. This is the boy who took that first dinghy at the age of eight and, armed with a duffel coat and a pair of wellies, sailed it to the pub where the rest of his family were waiting for him, having their Christmas lunch.

From his first days in the Royal Yachting Association’s Youth Programme as one of the 'ferrets’ under coach Jim Saltonstall, to his success in the GB youth team, to his multiple Olympic campaigns, Ainslie always stood out from his peers; an almost pathological winner, a rarity in this country.

When Ainslie was drafted into the Oracle afterguard following their disastrous start to this series, there was always the possibility that some of his gold-dust might rub off on the rest of the team.

It is, of course, impossible to quantify how much of a difference any one person makes in a team sport such as the America’s Cup, but his influence became increasingly apparent as the series wore on.

Despite never having been employed as a tactician before, Ainslie was quickly up to speed, asserting himself more and more with each passing race.

And while his infamous temper – most memorably on display when he boarded a media boat in a fury at a world championship in Perth in 2011, earning himself a disqualification – was largely kept in check, neither did he hold back in close-quarter skirmishes with the Kiwis, frequently shouting and appealing to the committee boat when he felt an infringement had taken place.

Perhaps more than anything, what Ainslie brought to Oracle was his winning mentality. When he said in a column in this newspaper last week that he truly believed Oracle could turn around what was at that point a 7-1 deficit, he meant it.

He will now be attempting to use this experience against those who helped him achieve this goal. If Ben Ainslie Racing attracts the sponsorship which he hopes it will, he will be challenging Oracle in the 35th America’s Cup.

First he will have to get past his old Team GB mucker, double gold medallist Iain Percy, who heads up the Artemis team and whose counsel Ainslie sought when he was drafted in by Oracle two weeks ago. It will be fascinating to see how the two great Britons fare in the years ahead.

Where does this latest triumph stand in Ainslie’s lengthening list of achievements? Comparisons between single-handed Olympic sailing and America’s Cup racing are fatuous, of course.

The America’s Cup is a team sport akin to Formula One, requiring monstrous funding and a veritable army of people simply to get the boats out on the water. Ainslie is just one small cog in the multi-billion dollar machine that is Oracle Team USA.

But for sheer rarity value - Ainslie was the first Briton in a quarter of a century to race in the America’s Cup finals - and the way in which his story unfolded, having come through such personal upheaval this summer when his close friend and Artemis sailor Andrew 'Bart’ Simpson died in a training accident, this has to rank with his best achievements.

Ainslie admitted he almost quit sailing when Simpson died. He decided against it only when he realised that his friend would have told him to stop being so stupid.

No doubt he offered up a word of thanks to his old friend last night after this latest extraordinary chapter in his career.